6 Extreme Sports You’ve Never Heard Of but Have To Try

Extreme sports are those that usually have some type of danger associated with them, but most of the time they are associated with thrill seeking behaviour. In other words, those that take part in them love the thrill of the risk and the sheer joy that comes from being a part of the sport. High levels of physical exertion, height, speed and more usually define some of the world’s most extreme sports. Of course, some extreme sports are now getting more common causing people to invent new ones to appeal to the ever increasing number of adrenaline junkies. Don’t forget to check if your travel insurance covers you for the type of activities you will be involved in (see Columbus Direct).  The following are eight extreme sports you’ve never heard of but have to try.

Dirt Surfing

Much like the name implies, dirt surfing requires users to actually surf over dirt. It is a mix of skateboarding and inline boarding and in Australia is referred to as inline boarding because Dirtsurfer is a patented name. The main difference between dirt surfing and other boards that have wheels on them are that when you pick up speed the stability of the board actually improves. Therefore, you actually want to ride at faster speeds in order to get a safer ride.

Stunt Pogo

Everyone has tried out a pogo stick at some point in their lives, but few people have probably taken a pogo jump to the extreme that stunt pogo does. Also sometimes referred to as X pogo, this extreme sport is popular due to the fact that it involves a lot of acrobatics in the air and is extremely hard to learn. The pogo sticks that these athletes use are specially ordered so that they fly the user much higher into the air thus giving them enough clearance to pull off some amazing tricks and still nail the landing.

Bo-Taoshi

Bo-Taoshi is essentially the Japanese version of capture the flag only it is a lot more intense then what you probably used to play back in primary school. Teams are made up of as many as 150 people that are each working to try to gain control of the opposition’s large flag pole in the field. Every team is split in half to form the defenders and the attackers. As the name implies, the defenders stay by their team’s flag while the attackers go after the other team’s flag. If the team is able to lower the giant flag down to the ground then they are considered the winners. In the middle of this entire ruckus are a lot of rugby like plays and a basic free for all.

Powerblocking

Powerblocking is a bit like a mix between stunt pogo and parkour. Those who take part in powerblocking run and jump around on stilts that are about a foot or two off of the ground. They usually perform jumps that are anywhere from three to five feet off the ground and jump around utilising many different acrobatic skills. Hand stands, cartwheels, and more are all enhanced with the extra bounce that the stilts provide. Plus, someone that is powerblocking can run as fast as 20mph and take nine foot strides making them able to get some great jumps off pretty much anything in their surroundings.

Extreme Sitting

Sitting might not seem like the hardest sport every, but in the sport of extreme sitting the task is to perform as many tricks as possible before actually sitting down. Referred to as hockering as well, those who take part in extreme sitting first have to buy a plastic stool that has a rubber lining around it called a sporthocker. The sporthocker is used to hold up the athlete who does as many tricks of varying difficulties around the seat without touching the ground as possible. It requires a great deal of balance and upper body strength because once you sit or fall the routine is over. Like skateboarding, the tricks are rated based on their degree of difficulty and the more combinations you can manage the better the score.

Salt Boarding

Slat boarding has a limited appeal because there are not too many places in the world where there is actually enough salt to try out the sport, but on the Utah Salt Flats in America it is very popular among extreme sport enthusiasts that have adapted to their environment. Essentially, it is snowboarding, the only difference being that instead of gliding across ice and snow the athlete glides across salt plains. For an added degree of fun a snowmobile can be used to pull the salt boarder across the plans as they pull off tricks that make them akin to a water skier on the salt. Some salt boarders are able to get going as fast as 50mph, but you have to wonder just how badly ‘salt rash’ must feel.

To those of us who aren’t thrill seekers these sports will sound utterly bonkers but to those who are they are simply new ways to push themselves to the extreme, both mentally and physically. Whether any of these will reach the heady heights of bungee jumping, pardon the pun, and take their place in the upper echelons of adventure sports remains to be seen, but many will want to try them.

Gareth

My name is Gareth Leonard, a Marketing Director turned World Traveler with a passion for slow, meaningful travel. I have been traveling the world full-time for the past 9+ years and document it all on Instagram and YouTube. Come join me!